Atari documentary turns to Kickstarter to ‘retain creative control’

TWO Miami filmmakers are asking gamers to ‘insert coin’ and fund a videogame documentary exploring the Atari era of the 70s and 80s.

World 1-1 is the first in a planned series of documentaries by Daryl Rodriguez and Jeanette Garcia and the pair has turned to Kickstarter in order to fund the $15,000 required to complete the project.

So far, 62 backers have chipped in just shy of $2,000 – but the pair says the project won’t happen unless they can cover the costs of travel and production.

“We didn’t try to find any investors through the traditional routes, as we decided to go through Kickstarter,” Rodriguez told Gamer Thumb.

“The premium you gain through Kickstarter is to retain creative control. Signing away with an investor, who probably knows nothing of filmmaking, means relinquishing a lot of your say as far as how and when to do things for the film.”

Rodriguez said he was amazed by the lack of videogame documentaries to date.

“There are some documentaries about games, but not as much compared to other industries, like the food industry,” he said.

“It’s probably because the games industry is such a young industry and is growing. But to be honest, it baffles us.

“When you see the number of trailers or intersections between filmmaking and game development, you start to wonder why there is a lack of documentaries made. Personally, I think it’s a matter of public perception.”

The duo has already confirmed that Atari co-founder Nolan Bushnell, Activision co-founder David Crane, and other instrumental talent from the era will be appearing in the project.

With a planned release date of third quarter next year, much of the hands-on footage with hardware from the era will come courtesy of Rick Medina, owner of Arcade Odyssey.